Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Seals $367 Mln Engines Deal

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has mandated Sanad Aero Solutions and Engine Lease Finance Corp (ELF) to finance its 23 spare engines in a sale and lease back deal valued at $367 million, the airline said on Wednesday.

Sanad, owned by Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala, will purchase and lease back to Etihad five GE90 and six Rolls Royce Trent 500 engines and ELF will purchase and lease back to Etihad six Rolls Royce Trent 700 and six IAE V2500 engines, a statement from Etihad said.

The transactions are for a 10-year operating lease term. The financing is for 16 in-service spare engines and seven future spare engine deliveries.

In a sale and lease back arrangement one party sells a property to a buyer who immediately leases the property back to the seller. This allows the original owner to make full use of the asset but have no capital tied up in the asset.

“These spare engine sales and lease back transactions provide the airline with a long-term financing solution for its entire spare engine fleet while mitigating residual value risk and providing competitive cost of ownership over the long term,” James Hogan, Etihad CEO said in the statement.

State-owned Etihad owns a fleet of 64 Airbus and Boeing aircraft with another 100 aircraft on order. (Reporting By Stanley Carvalho, Editing by Dinesh Nair)